STAFF PREDICTION: Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone

Robert Vallejos, MMATORCH MANAGING EDITOR

Christian Moore MMATorch Contributor

So, I think this play like every Tony Ferguson fight. Cerrone will knock Tony down. Tony will look like he is in massive trouble, but will get up and move forward to end the round, a bloody mess. Round 2 he cuts up Cerrone. Round 3 he keeps tagging Cerrone, but Cerrone sticks around. Ferguson wins the fight. That being said, this is a rare fight where almost any outcome is possible, being a KO/TKO, Submission, Decision, for either fighter. I also see this as a fight that could see itself a draw. My original prediction would’ve been a Tony KO, as Cerrone’s chin seemed to fade, but now it has become stronger than ever somehow, so I think he sticks around, but I still have Tony via majority decision (29-28 x2, 28-28). We’ll get a great fight though.

Sean Covington MMATorch Contributor

Frank Hyden MMATorch Columnist

I’m going Ferguson here. I’ve been a Cerrone fan for a long time and I’ve rooted for him dozens of times, but I think Ferguson takes this. My gut says Ferguson finishes Cerrone with a flurry in the first round but my head says it goes to decision and Ferguson wins that way. I’ll go with my head this time. It’s certainly possible that Cerrone wins, he has the striking to beat anyone, but is Ferguson going to engage him exclusively on the feet? I think Cerrone will have enough success on the feet to make Ferguson want to start working some grappling and takedowns. I think most of the fight will be standing but I think Ferguson does enough elsewhere to throw off Cerrone enough so that he can capitalize and take the rounds en route to the decision.

Mike Hiscoe MMATorch Columnist

We know that “Cowboy” Cerrone tends to come up short in the big fights. The question is, is this the big fight or the fight before the big fight? After a bit of a layoff, Tony Ferguson looked like a killer against Anthony Pettis last year. Since then, he’s run into some personal issues that looked like would keep him out of the cage for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, it feels like it might be too soon a return for Tony Ferguson, and Donald Cerrone isn’t a good fight to come back to if you’re not 100%. I think Ferguson is going to fight recklessly and get caught with an early submission from Cerrone, setting up a big fight with either McGregor or the Khabib-Poirier winner for later this year.